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It was in the rain that the 1,000 or so participants in the 6th edition of La Charly Gaul lined up at the starting line, which has traditionally been situated in the Kirchberg district since the cycle race began. With 580 entrants, the riders on the long course (158 km) outnumbered those on the ‘short’ 79-kilometre route. The main attraction at the start of this year’s event, apart from Charly Gaul himself, who also got on his bike, was of course Bjarne Riis. The Dane from Steinsel had come to clock up some training kilometres on the challenging roads of La Charly Gaul, which did not prevent him from securing a solo victory, ahead of two-time winner Petr Hric (1991 and 1992). Pierre Johanns was the first Luxembourger to finish. On the shorter route, Steve Staar won the sprint ahead of Vincenzo Centrone and Steve Fries. Charly Gaul finished 179th in the race, in under three hours and with an average speed of over 27 km/h, whilst his daughter Fabienne took eighth place in the women’s category, a classification won by Tanja Wintersdorf.
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